When Miguel Pilgram won a $52 million lottery jackpot in 2010, he used the money to invest in properties across South Florida and start The Pilgram Group – his very own real estate company. Since then, he has become a very successful businessman and has set his focus on saving a black business district in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Sistrunk Boulevard was once known for being a thriving main street for African Americans, according to Black Enterprise. The boulevard – known as the "historical heartbeat of Fort Lauderdale's oldest black community" – runs directly through the city's black business district and was named after James Sistrunk, a black physician who in 1938 helped make the first African American hospital in Broward County possible. At the time, African Americans who lived west of the tracks were banned by segregation laws from crossing over to the east side after dark.

Sistrunk Boulevard slowly declined after desegregation, becoming riddled with gun violence, drugs and abandoned buildings. But Pilgram is committed to changing all of that. To restore the historic black business district, Pilgram has purchased three buildings where he plans to build a jazz lounge, blues lounge, restaurants and a center for performing arts.

“For me, it’s [about] preserving the community as a whole,” Pilgram told an NBC local affiliate station in South Florida, adding that Sistrunk was once a hub of “success for businessmen.”

Apparently, restoring the community was a good idea and something the community really needs. According to Legal Specialist and Community Activist Edduard Prince, foreign developers are anxious to invest in the business district on Sistrunk Boulevard. However, Prince knows that areas like Sistrunk can also be stripped of their cultural identity and push out natives and local residents of the area during the restoration process.

“The black residents of the community know that they’re in [a] prime location, they know that they’ve been fighting for years, and developers are drooling over the property,” Prince told the station.

With this possibility in mind, Pilgram's plan to restore the area has always kept local resident at the forefront. “I was raised in a similar environment,” he told The Sun-Sentinel. “There is a need, and in my mind, an obligation, to invest there.”

The Pilgram Group

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